You Only Grow When You Are Under Pressure

This has been a busy and exciting week with Masterclasses in Tamworth and Derby and three coaching sessions. I have also been busy creating some leaflets for some talks I am delivering in two weeks’ time which is very exciting.

It was a great pleasure to deliver my Mental Resilience Masterclass to Shire Leasing on behalf of Live and Learn it was a great day and the delegates were really engaged and interactive. The second was for the staff of Derby College in the beautiful Broomfield Hall Campus which is stunning.

The was again a great experience with outstanding feedback from the staff who were engaged and inspired.

You only grow when you are under pressure

I believe that the only time you grow in comfort zone and character is when you are under pressure. When you are resting and recovering your body and mind are repairing and that is crucially important. I am now 65 and if I want to be speaking on stage into my 80’s I need to stay healthy – so rest and recovery are part of my routine.

When we are under pressure, we grow in comfort zone and character. We learn from mistakes and our comfort zone grows as we step out in fear. When I was in my 20’s I was a nervous wreck and I couldn’t even speak to more than one person without panicking.

The impact of ridicule

My childhood experiences had led me to great insecurity and lack of confidence. I was ridiculed and laughed at for my poor English and my lack of ability. I was brought up by Polish parents and I couldn’t speak a word of English when I first went to school.

This led me to great embarrassment when I had to read in front of the class, and to my horror I couldn’t. I was also the last pick in sports when at school and rejection has been an issue for me since then.

A time to face the music

However there came a time when I had to speak in front of a few people when I started working as a sales rep for a radio station in the North East called Metro Radio. I was very nervous, and I couldn’t deliver my reports with any clarity. I hated standing up in front of others and it was ruining my career.

Then my sales director Harry Dunne shared a confidence technique with me, and this changed my life. From being a nervous wreck, I slowly gained confidence. I started to speak in front of 10 then 20 then 30 people. Each time I was under great pressure but each time my comfort zone grew.

My comfort zone grew

In recent years I have spoken to 50, 100, 500 and 750 people and thoroughly enjoyed it. I have spoken on recorded and live radio and recorded and live TV. My comfort zone for speaking is now huge where it used to be tiny. This has made a massive difference to my career.

I had to be under pressure in order to grow my comfort zone in speaking – there is no other way to do this. You need to feel the fear and do it anyway – you have to do it! But once you come out the other end the feeling is amazing and addictive.

What made the difference for me was the Confidence Technique which Harry Dunne shared with me and I have written a full chapter on this technique in my book with full details on visualisation and the inner voice.

Thoughts for the week.

1. How do you respond to pressure?
2. Do you avoid it at all costs, or do you embrace it?
3. If you don’t embrace it, you will never fulfil your true potential
4. You have to go through the pressure to grow
5. This week be aware of what you are avoiding and make a conscious effort to embrace it and watch what happens and how you feel afterwards.

Well that’s it for this week have a wonderful weekend and stay positive.

Warm regards

John

Off the Wall – How to Develop World Class Mental Resilience available HERE
http://www.jdmindcoach.co.uk/product/off-the-wall-how-to-develop-world-class-mental-resilience/ (Special offer. Put in code 10POUND when prompted to receive a signed copy for £10 including postage and packing – UK only)